N.W.T

Have you noticed fewer mosquitoes in your community this summer? You aren't alone. Taz Stuart, an entomologist who works with the N.W.T. government, said mosquito populations throughout the territory are, generally speaking, lower than average. That's because most types of mosquitoes "love water," and conditions in parts of the territory have been hot and dry instead. It's still early in the season, though, he said."If you could give me a crystal ball and tell me when it's going to rain, where and how much, then I can…

Extracting strawberry DNA, analyzing sleep deprivation and explaining hydrophobic pepper — those are the science projects from three students representing the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories at a national science fair. Koda Amos, Regan Grandjambe and Tori Lafferty from Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., will be travelling to Edmonton from May 13 to 20 to compete at the Youth Science Canada exhibition. When Amos, a Grade 10 student at Chief T'Selehye School, learned he would be competing against other students from across…

In 1951, a man in Hay River, N.W.T., drowned after the town experienced devastating flooding.The cause of the flooding was the same thing that caused the 2022 floods: ice jams. But a 1988 report by the federal government details that a flood prevention measure that had been used the previous three years wasn't used in 1951. This was the practice of ice blasting, using explosives to blow up river ice and prevent jamming.  "Because of the flooding in 1951, an extensive blasting program was undertaken in the spring of 1952,"…

You might not think of the Arctic as a place with a lot of trees, but a recent study says the Mackenzie River Delta in the N.W.T. is home to the world's biggest known cumulative logjam — and it stores a huge amount of carbon. "Everywhere you go, there's driftwood," said Roy Cockney Sr., an elder living in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., which is above both the Arctic Circle and the treeline. Cockney said the wood gives people in his community a source of heating fuel year round, and it's sometimes used to build cabins too. "It's…

Efforts to rebuild a research station burned down in a late-season wildfire last year are coming together quickly, according to the director of lands and resources for the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation (LKFN). "It's like a train going 1,000 miles an hour," said Dieter Cazon, describing how things have been moving since the Scotty Creek Research Station was all but burned to the ground in mid-October. The wildfire gutted five of nine buildings at the remote site 50 kilometers south of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., destroying…